Banking

  Bloomberg Standard Chartered Plc is closing about half its Nigerian branches in a pivot to digital banking, according to people familiar with the matter, as the finance industry comes under pressure from mobile money providers. The London-listed lender’s local unit has already started to shut some offices and will eventually operate only 13 branches in the West African nation, …

  Bloomberg The Philippines’ central bank is unlikely to increase policy rates in the first half of this year as it waits for the economic recovery to become entrenched and unemployment to fall, according to central bank Governor Benjamin Diokno. “After the performance in the first two quarters of the year, that’s when we seriously look at whether we will …

  Bloomberg HSBC Holdings Plc has hired Omar Siddiq from CIMB Group Holdings Bhd. to head its Malaysian unit, the bank said in a statement on Wednesday The announcement confirmed an earlier report by Bloomberg News, which cited people with knowledge of the matter, that the head of CIMB Group’s wholesale banking division and deputy chief executive officer of CIMB’s …

  Bloomberg The Indian rupee is likely to weaken after foreign inflows that have helped it appreciate at the start of the year begin to ebb in coming months, a senior official at the nation’s second-largest private sector lender said. “INR will appreciate short term but have no choice but to depreciate long term,” B. Prasanna, group head for global …

  Bloomberg Romania raised interest rates less than expected, surprising some investors who have expected the central bank to lift borrowing costs faster to tackle decade-high inflation and catch up with more aggressive rate hikes by its regional peers. The central bank raised borrowing costs by 25 basis points to 2%, a move predicted by five out of 11 economists …

  Bloomberg Bank of America Corp (BofA) said it will eliminate charges for non-sufficient funds in its customers’ accounts and reduce overdraft fees, joining a growing number of US lenders scaling back the costs. The non-sufficient funds fees will be eliminated starting next month, and overdraft fees will be reduced to $10 from $35 beginning in May, the Charlotte, North …

  Bloomberg Bank of America Corp, (BofA) tallying its haul from a second banner year for Wall Street securities firms, is shifting its philosophy on bonuses and dramatically sweetening rewards after a bout of restraint a year ago. Senior executives are planning to increase the bonus pool for investment bankers by more than 40%. And for sales and trading operations, …

  Bloomberg Morgan Stanley agreed to pay $60 million to settle a class action suit by consumers claiming the firm failed to safeguard their personal information. The agreement, if approved by a federal judge in Manhattan, would resolve claims over two security breaches that compromised personal information of 15 million current and former clients, according to a group of them …

  Bloomberg Bond buyers face a “new conundrum” where Treasury yields will stay low even as the Federal Reserve hikes rates, despite the surge in the first week of the year, according to Goldman Sachs. The investment bank expects the bond market to be reluctant to lift the terminal rate during the coming tightening cycle. So while raising its year-end …

  Bloomberg Citigroup joined other investors in helping mPharma, a Ghanaian health startup, to raise $35 million for further expansion in Africa. Jam Fund Management II, Social Capital and Lux Capital Management provided equity of $30 million, while Citigroup approved a loan of $5 million for the venture, mPharma CEO Gregory Rockson said. Founded in 2013, mPharma is building a drug …